Moonlight Confessions
by Wolfsblood5712
Summary: After another failure to find the Philosopher's Stone, everyone is more than a little discouraged.


p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b28c2f94b08dcd4c08b87c5a0c82a2ad"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"For anyone who has read my first fic, One Foot in Front of the Other, I have changed the name of my OC. Sorry, I know that's probably annoying, but as I'm writing the prequel I came up with a better name that held more significance to the plot. Furthermore, this is not the prequel. (sorry, guys.) This is just kind of a fluff piece that came to me in the middle of writing the prequel so I figured I'd throw it out there to give you guys something to read while you're waiting. It's a oneshot because I'm so busy with the other story I'm writing, but I hope everyone enjoys it nonetheless. /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4c34f7308aa0ad2da3d3714af10a9c84"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"P.S. The name of my OC, who I was originally going to call Blaze, is now Winter, and this is set after One Foot in Front of the Other./span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b3a4e365e745789bcecf3e8317b33f7d"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"-/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="98edbbb8f8208ca34634839841fa1eae"Another lead, another mission, another week wasted, and still no Philosopher's stone to show for it. We'd really thought we'd had something this time, but the lead had turned up a dead end and the week's efforts had been in vain. That being said, Edward, Alphonse, and I were both discouraged and exhausted. It seemed like a never ending pattern; hope pursued inevitably turned to disappointment. Tomorrow we'd head back to Central, Colonel Mustang would probably assign us another mission, and it would begin all over again. I sighed and turned over in my bed, staring idly out the window. The town we were passing through was too small to have an inn, but once the mayor had discovered Ed and I had military ties, he'd offered to house us for the night. He'd been almost em style="box-sizing: border-box;"too /emkind; treating us to a large dinner, insisting we stay the night in his luxurious mansion, and preparing us each our own rooms even though Ed and Al usually roomed together. The brothers had mentioned that they usually shared a room, but the mayor had dismissed their comment with a wave of his meaty hand, a laugh that shook his ample stomach, and the words: "No, no. It's no trouble, my boys. Besides, the rooms rarely get used enough anyways. I have so many, I hardly know what to do with them! Come, I'll give you a tour." Alphonse, not wanting to hurt our host's feelings, consented with a timid squeak, but Edward's scowl told me that his suspicions matched my own. We'd seen the town below this hill; talked to the people who, compared to their mayor, had very little. True, the people were happy, and their conditions weren't nearly as bad as the ones the Youswell miners had faced, but their mayor was a corrupt official if I'd ever seen one. I had no doubt that his courtesy was extended solely in the hope that Ed and I would be impressed enough to put in a good word with our superiors. Still, whether the hospitality had been intended as a bribe or not, I had to admit: it em style="box-sizing: border-box;"was /emnice to have eaten a full meal and be in a real bed for the first time in months, although trying to hide my chimera traits was starting to get a bit annoying. The Elrics and I had been roughing it so long that it was strange not to feel rocks and tree roots beneath me. In all honesty, I was having trouble falling asleep, and even considered moving to the floor, but I was reluctant to leave the warmth of the covers. Instead I lay awake, my thoughts wandering as my eyes traced the moonlit landscape that lay outside the large, double windows leading to the balcony. It was a long while before I was pulled from my thoughts, and when I was, I was uncertain, at first, what the sound was which had distracted me. When the noise was repeated, slightly louder this time, I realized it was a whimper, and that it was Ed's voice, coming from the next room over. I figured he was having a nightmare, and started to wonder why Alphonse hadn't woken him yet before remembering that Al's room was at the other end of the hall. I kicked off the covers, shivering as my bare feet hit the floor. I pulled the edge of my tank top over my sweatpants to hide the hilt of the knife I was never without; I wouldn't want the mayor to think I was attempting an assassination if I ran into him. I slipped out of my room and into Ed's in near silence, shutting the door as quietly as I could. I called his name softly as I turned to face him. When I saw him, my heart went out to him. I realized for the first time the full reason he and Al always roomed together. It wasn't just to save money, or for convenience; no one should be left to suffer in this state, and without his little brother, Ed's nights would be long and agonizing. My earlier assumption had been correct. He was definitely having a nightmare; tossing and turning as the images in his mind assailed him. He was drenched in sweat, the sheets tangled and constricting around his unconscious form, no doubt adding to his psychological torment. He was panting heavily, tears streaming down his face as a tiny, broken sob escaped his throat. "Al... no, Al...!" He whined, his distress growing. "Ed..." I called hesitantly, unsure of how I should approach him. I knew Ed had nightmares; sometimes I had even been woken by his screams, but Al was usually the one who dealt with them. I'd had no idea they got this bad. I didn't want to bother Al, though, and I couldn't leave him like this, so I was going to have to be the one to help him. I moved to his side, calling his name a little louder. A concerned look spread across his face as he murmured, "Al? I'm sorry, Al... my fault... I-I'm sorry!" Another sob shook his body as he whispered his apology, and I decided to take more drastic measures. I reached out and shook him by his shoulder, hard, while yelling right in his ear. em style="box-sizing: border-box;""Ed!" /em This time, I finally got a response. He gasped, his golden eyes flying open as he shot bolt upright. "Al?" He questioned softly, blinking in bleary eyed confusion. "No, Ed," I murmured gently, "It's Winter." He stared at me for a minute, still disoriented; still trying to separate dream from reality. "Winter..." He whispered, finally starting to look a bit more collected, "I'm sorry, I..." He stopped, raising a hand to wipe the tears away from his eyes, and looked down, ashamed as he realized he'd been crying in front of me. "Ed..." I choked, but I couldn't finish. He tensed when I pulled him into a hug, but quickly melted into my touch. "It's okay to hurt, Ed." I finally managed, "It's okay to be em style="box-sizing: border-box;"sad /em sometimes. You don't have to have a heart of stone." He sniffed, and a few more tears escaped his eyes. "I... I know, it's just... I have to be strong, for you and Al..." I shook my head. "No," I corrected him, "Not for me. You never have to stay strong for me. You can em style="box-sizing: border-box;"be /emstrong for me, when I'm weak, but you don't have to em style="box-sizing: border-box;"stay /em strong for me. You can be weak or sad or hurting, and then I'll be strong for you. You don't have to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders all the time, Ed." I let go of him, and gave a small smile as our eyes met. "Thanks, Winter." He murmured softly. I ruffled his hair absentmindedly, just happy that he was smiling even after the dreams he'd just suffered through. "Why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll hang around just in case you have another nightmare." He opened his mouth to argue, but I stopped him. "I couldn't sleep anyways. besides, it's nice outside so i'll just sit on the balcony." He sighed but gave in, too tired to argue. I smiled as I tiptoed past him, opening the large window and shutting it behind me. I let my wolf's ears flick up and my tail unfurl, sighing with relief as i freed them. I'd been hiding them all day so the mayor wouldn't know I was a chimera, but I doubted anyone would be outside at this late hour. It was fairly easy to hide my wolf traits, but it sure was annoying. My ears were the easiest; I could flatten them against my head, then do my hair in just the right position to hide them. I usually got a headache after pinning them down so long, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the pain that I endured when I retracted my traits, and it worked for way longer. My tail was a little harder, but still manageable; sometimes I wore a thick belt and tucked my tail beneath it, but usually I wore loose clothes and stuffed it down the leg of my pants. The hardest part of hiding them was keeping them still. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, because just like a normal human would smile when something made them happy, my tail would wag. When I heard a sound, my ears always wanted to twitch towards it; it was a challenge I faced every day because I was as much wolf as I was human, and it was all I could do to react only in human ways like anyone else would in order to conceal what I was. It frustrated me, to be honest. When people were angry, they yelled. That was considered normal. It wasn't my fault that when em style="box-sizing: border-box;"I /emwas angry, my tail lashed. It wasn't like I em style="box-sizing: border-box;"asked /emto have my DNA spliced with a wolf's. Unfortunately, that wasn't the way people viewed it. People em style="box-sizing: border-box;"hated /emchimeras. They thought we were monsters; animals. They wanted to kill us. And if word of what I was ever got to the military... I shuddered. If I was lucky, the only thing I'd lose would be my state alchemist's certification, but it was far more likely that I'd lose my freedom. I'd be locked in some military lab, tortured and experimented until I lost my life in addition to my freedom and position. There was a slim chance that Ed and Al would even face a firing squad for concealing my existence. Mustang and his team might be able to avoid a firing squad by claiming they, too had been deceived be the Elrics and I, but they'd still be in danger. At the very least, they'd undergo a thorough investigation, and that in itself could be life-threatening if the higher ups discovered how much Mustang knew about the homunculi. I shivered at the thoughts and pushed them out of my head. It wouldn't come to that; I'd make sure of it. Even if I had to cut my ears and tail from my body, I would protect my friends from being hurt because of me. I sat on the floor of the balcony, my tail curled loosely around me as I gazed at the stars, then the mountains in the distance. I took a deep breath of the fresh air,  
my tail wagging ever so slightly as I tasted it; this was the very scent of freedom. Even after four years, it still amazed me that I was free. For the first fourteen years of my life, the only thing I remembered was being nothing more than a science experiment. I'd thought that was the way it would always be, until one day a theory would go awry and I would perish in agony, like every other chimera before me. I was number fifty-seven. But Ed had saved me; had em style="box-sizing: border-box;"freed /emme. And even after four years, I knew freedom was never something I would take for granted. My ears swiveled as I heard soft footsteps behind me, and the rustle of fabric. I smiled as I recognized Ed's scent. "Hey." He murmured, and draped his red coat over my shoulders before sinking to the ground beside me. "You looked cold." He explained, yawning, I blushed. "Thanks." I pulled the jacket closer around me, burying my face in the soft material. He laughed. "You like my jacket?" He teased softly, only half questioning. I nodded. "It smells like you." Now it was his turn to blush. "That's... good, right...?" I laughed too. "Yeah." I leaned against him, and he smiled, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "Aren't you tired?" I asked him. "Exhausted." He responded, "But I couldn't fall back asleep after that dream." I nodded. "I feel you. Want to talk about it?" He hesitated, and I remained silent, letting him think. "It's just..." He began eventually, "It's always the same dream, whenever we fail to find the stone... a memory, really... it's always that night..." I understood, and he knew that; no more needed to be said. After four years, the two of us had an understanding and communication that ran deeper than words. "Ed," I started into the speech I had given my boyfriend a thousand times over; the one he always needed after these pointless missions. "You know Al doesn't blame you for what happened that night; it was his decision as much as yours. He loves you. He's your little brother and he will always love you and look up to you. I know you two, and I know you're not about to give up because of one false lead. So yeah, maybe this lead was a dead end, but we em style="box-sizing: border-box;"will find the stone./em Whether it takes a day or a month or a couple more years, we em style="box-sizing: border-box;"will /emfind it. We'll get Al's body back, and we'll restore your limbs, and then we'll defeat the homunculi and go back to Resembool." And despite my hopeless thoughts earlier that evening, as I said it, I believed it. That was the way it worked with us; I encouraged Ed, and in giving him hope somehow found my own. We were quiet for a moment, until I became conscious of his eyes on me. I glanced at him questioningly and he blushed even redder, looking away awkwardly. "Your... your fur..." He stammered, "It um... it looks really pretty in the moonlight." I laughed. "Well, thanks, but that's definitely the weirdest compliment anyone's ever given me." He looked at me again, and smiled a little, his golden eyes bright and pensive in the moonlight. "I just don't get it." He murmured. His eyes caught mine, and I couldn't look away, lost within their depths. "Get what?" I whispered. "How people hate chimeras... how em style="box-sizing: border-box;"anyone/em could hate em style="box-sizing: border-box;"you." /em The compliment was sweet, but to me it felt superficial because people did hate me... em style="box-sizing: border-box;"should /emhate me. I was unnatural; the result of an alchemic taboo. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"I shouldn't even exist. /em"Because I'm a freak." I muttered, "And who would ever love this" I paused to retract my traits, wincing as I did, "Instead of this?" Ed frowned. "Me. Now stop hurting yourself. You're beautiful just the way you are, and I'll beat up any jerk who tells you otherwise." I looked down, trying to hide the tears burning in my eyes as I let my ears and tail show again. This boy... what had I ever done to deserve someone as amazing as him? "Ed, I love you." I told him. "I love you too." He responded, then as he finally caught a glimpse of my eyes, he murmured, "Hey, don't cry, silly. What's there to cry about?" I laughed tearfully. "N-nothing. I don't know, I'm just happy, and I'm tired. My emotions get all mixed up when I'm tired." He reached out, pushing a lock of stray hair behind my ear. "Well, would this wake you up?" He asked, and before I could react he had pulled me closer, and pressed his lips against mine. I pulled back at first, startled, but after a second my resistance faded, and I was kissing him back. He raised his left hand to my face to wipe away my tears, his right arm still around my shoulders, holding me against him. We finally came up for air, slightly dizzy from the lack of it. Ed smirked. "More awake now?" I laughed breathlessly. "Yeah, I think that did the trick."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bc95dfc14146aa23e43f2ea7af04d310" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="314b317c4d208ca4d85367a0146be619""Good," He murmured, pointing towards the mountains, "Because it's morning, and we should leave for Central soon." My eyes followed his hand, and with faint surprise I realized that it was indeed morning; I could just see the sun's first rays peeking in between the mountains. "I was about to say the same thing. Colonel Mustang will be pretty upset if you don't turn in your report, brother..." Ed and I both jumped a mile, our faces turning scarlet as we scrambled away from each other. My ears flattened against my head as I turned to face the new voice, wondering how I had managed to miss hearing their entrance. "Al?!" Ed choked as we saw the suit of armor in the doorway, "H-how long have you been standing there?!" If Al could've grinned, he would've. "Oh, I don't know, not too long..." My face turned the shade of the coat around my shoulders, and Ed's wasn't any better. "Geez, Al! Would you em style="box-sizing: border-box;"say something /emnext time? Maybe em style="box-sizing: border-box;"knock /emfirst?" Al laughed at his big brother's obvious embarrassment. "I em style="box-sizing: border-box;"did /emknock, brother. You just didn't hear it." Ed blinked several times before muttering a simple, "Oh." Finally, it was too much, and I burst into laughter, and it wasn't long before the boys joined me. When we'd finally gotten control of our emotions, Al decided to point out the obvious. "You and Winter have been dating for three years, brother. It's about time you finally had a real kiss, so you don't need to look so embarrassed." My ears twitched as I laughed nervously. "I guess you've got a point there, Al." I said, and the three of us laughed again, happier than we'd been in a long time./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a1bf4d4734ef6babe1b6a57dc6dca813" I still felt self-conscious from time to time because of my chimera traits, but Ed's words had done a lot to boost my confidence. My misgivings faded completely, however, before the year had ended. We were waiting to board a train, and some guy was bad mouthing chimeras. I focused on my book, not thinking anything of it; I was used to people talking about my kind like that. I simply made certain my ears and tail were completely hidden, and ignored him. Ed, however, punched him hard enough to send him flying. Al and I looked at him in shock, but neither of us had time to question him as we were called to board our train. They didn't know I was listening when Al finally asked Ed what that had been all about. Ed just scowled and said, "I wasn't about to let that jerk talk about my girlfriend like that." I blushed as I buried my nose even deeper in my book, trying to hide the fact that I'd heard every word. From that day on I never doubted Ed's affection, or his sincerity when he refused to understand how people could hate me, ever again./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5ede5794c61e74a65c44002f444c797d" ~Fin~/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="491143e3cc372b27e4a0b6e3d524a530"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"-/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c31b0597ca01bcb089ec20d0018c2fac"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"So that's it for this one! Not sure how I feel about it yet, maybe not as good as my last one... but either way, it's out there now, so, hope everyone likes it :)/span/p 


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